16
CYCLE 2- Brine Make Up/Service
After adding water to the brine tank, the valve returns to home posi-
tion and waits for two hours. This time is adjustable, but two hours
provide the optimum solution. This gives the salt plenty of time to
dissolve and ensures that an accurate salt dose is used. The system is
still providing treated water to your home during this cycle.
CYCLE3- Backwash
At the programmed time of regeneration, the valve moves to its back-
wash position for the start of its actual regeneration cycle. In the back-
wash position, the normal flow through the pressure tank is reversed,
with water flowing from the bottom up, so that the softening mineral
is lifted and cleaned. This removes any dirt or particles that have
accumulated on the top of the mineral bed. As is true of the entire
regeneration cycle, all the water flowing through the tank at this point
is sent directly to the drain. None of the regeneration water enters
your supply pipes. If you use any water during regeneration, the
system provides you with untreated water that completely bypasses
the tank
.
CYCLE 4- Brine Draw / Slow Rinse
After the system is backwashed for several minutes, the valve moves to
the brine draw position. In this position, the valve creates a vacuum
to pull the brine solution out of the brine tank. The brine solution
flows slowly through the mineral bed, removing the hardness ions that
are attached to the softening resin and sending them to the drain.
After all the brine is drawn out of the brine tank, the system continues
to slowly rinse the mineral bed, giving plenty of time for all the resin
beads to be recharged and rinsing out any excess brine
CYCLE 5-Fast Rinse
The valve then moves to its final regeneration cycle, in which water
flows quickly through the bed in its normal direction from top to
bottom. This settles the mineral bed back down and serves as a final
cleaning rinse. The valve then returns home. The regeneration cycle
is complete.
NOTE:
The entire regeneration cycle, from backwash to fast rinse,
takes one to two hours in most cases
MANUAL REGENERATION:
Although it may never be necessary, you always have the option
to start an immediate regeneration. See page 20 for instructions.
The manual regeneration will start with brine tank fill and a 2
hour soak cycle as described above. Since a manual regenera-
tion is primarily intended to recover from unusual circum-
stances, such as allowing the brine tank to run out of salt, it is
assumed that you need to recover full capacity. Therefore, a
manual regeneration always uses the maximum salt dose for
your size of unit.
